A prompting on the heart - by Elizabeth Reynolds

A moment ago she'd felt completely normal. Happy and still, eyes closed, silently pondering her Lord. But a word had suddenly popped into her head, and now she couldn't think of anything else but this word. Why this word? What did it mean?

As she stood there thinking about it for a few seconds, more words, either side of the first one came into form in her mind. And soon she started visualising the words, seeing pictures flicker and dance in full, moving, vibrant colour in her mind's eye.

Then out of nowhere, another thought came to her. An idea that maybe, she should share with others what she was thinking and seeing, and she grew hot. In an instant – a mere heartbeat, her body turned to a burning clay oven. Red hot pumping blood began throbbing loudly in her ears, it was a wonder no one else nearby could hear it. Her stomach fluttered as like the wings of a thousand butterflies. And her chest! If whoever was in there could stop hammering the inside wall of her heart with all their might she would have appreciated it greatly.

She knew soon...

She knew He was telling her to speak. To open up the flood gates and let her... silly little idea come trickling out... But all she had was a few stunted words and an image she'd imagined. Had she just imagined it? This random thought that had come to her, was it from God, or just her imagination – her distracted mind – wandering? Anyway the word she had in her head wasn't new or unusual, it was an ordinary word. Everyone knew this word and what it meant. Surely there was no one there that hadn't thought of this themselves at some time or other. She kept quiet.

And the nerves settled down a bit, thankfully. She breathed in a deep, shaky breath...

And the word was there again, like someone knocking on the door again instead of giving up and leaving her alone. She held onto her breath for a few brief moments...

...And spoke. Out loud. She hadn't planned what she was going to say! What am I doing?! But God spoke to His church that day. She remembered afterwards how confident and sure her words had been. There weren't many of them, and she couldn't remember everything she had said. But it was sweet, and true, and a blessing apparently – one of the old ladies had told her afterwards how much she had needed to hear that word.